New Ways Ministry: Building Bridges Between the LGBT Community and the Catholic Church

Media Associates

Catholics in Media Associates (CIMA) awarded its highest television honor this year to Modern Family, an ABC comedy which includes a gay couple with an adopted baby as part of its regular cast. According to the organization’s website:

“This remains far and away the best prime-time sitcom: crisp and farcical, but very kind. This fast-paced mockumentary perfectly captures the experience of parenthood.”

In describing the depiction of the gay couple, Mitchell and Cameron, and their adopted Vietnamese daughter, Lily, the CIMA site states:

“They’re learning all the parenting ropes as they go. Fortunately, they have the loving support of their extended, eclectic, ever-funny family.”

CIMA’s description of itself on its website is:

“Catholics in Media Associates was formed by working professionals in the entertainment industry whose initial purpose was to share personal concerns of faith and spirituality as it is experienced in the workplace.

“From that early beginning came the CIMA Awards, recognizing those projects and people in the entertainment industry who, by their work, have made clearer the Word of God. These awards were created to promote and applaud films, television programs and other entertainment forms that uplift the spirit and help us better understand what it is to be part of the human family.”

Their awards to television and film are sometimes referred to as the “Catholic Emmys” and “Catholic Oscars.”

Presenting the award to Modern Family certainly raised a few eyebrows in the media world, but certainly in a positive direction. The award went a long way to help dispel the enduring myth that Catholics don’t support marriage equality. Some responses from news accounts about the award tell the story:

” ‘Modern Family’ might not be the most obvious choice to be showered with accolades by a religious organization, but the ABC comedy was honored by the Catholics in Media Associates over the weekend anyway.”

“There are those on both sides of the LGBT debate who love to push this false decision between religion and sexual identity. There are, of course, those in between who want to make it clear that you do not have to choose between religion and being gay. Catholics in Media Associates honored the show ‘Modern Family’ this past weekend.”

“Referred to as the ‘Catholic Oscar,’ though in this case it would be the ‘Catholic Emmy,’ the Catholics in Media Associates has given ABC’s Modern Family its 2012 television award.

“That may come as a shock for some as the series has come under fire from conservative groups for its representation of alternative lifestyles with Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitch’s (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) gay marriage.”